I believe that the Bible, Old and New Testament is the Word of God! Powerful and Decerning But the Bible is not the Gospel, but the Bible, Old and New Testament does contain the Gospel.

In the Old Testament both in the Law and the Prophets Jesus Christ and the Message of the Gospel is both Proclaimed and Predicted! (John 1:45) “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” [KJV] See: (Luke 24: 44) (Romans 3:21) “But now the righteousness of God without the law (the Gospel) is manifested, being witnessed by the LAW and the PROPHETS” [KJV]

In the Old Testament the revelation of Jesus and the Message of the Gospel is hidden and only revealed in Portions of truth! (Hebrews 1:1) “In many separate revelations each of which set forth a portion of the Truth (the Gospel) and in different ways God spoke of old to our forefathers in and by the prophets”

But in the New Testament, Jesus and the Gospel is clearly revealed! Both in the FOUR GOSPELS and in the writings of Paul, Peter, John, James and the rest of the New Testament writers. (Hebrews 1:2-3) “2. But in the last of these days He has spoken to us in the person of a Son,…” 3. “…He is the SOLE expression of the glory of God the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine, and He is the PERFECT imprint and very image of God’s nature,…” See: (John 1: 18) [Amp]

No part of the Bible, Old or New Testament can ever be deemed as Irrelevant, Unnecessary, or Unimportant to the preaching of Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Grace and Peace!

The “Gospel” weather revealed in the Old or the New Testament, is the Good News Message of the Finished Work of the Cross of Jesus Christ, for all Men, for all time, because of the Grace, Mercy, Goodness and Love of God! And is is the Power of God unto Salvation to ANYONE WHO BELIEVES!!!!

Ephesians 4:32
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

People like to say, “I can forgive, but I cannot forget.” Have you heard that before? Now, in the first place, nowhere in the Bible does God tell you to forgive and then to forget.. It is not in the Bible! The devil is adding something here to make the whole thing burdensome.

God only tells us to forgive because God in Christ has forgiven us a debt we cannot pay. When we do this, we do ourselves a favor because harboring bitterness and unforgiveness can sometimes destroy our health!

So just forgive and let God take care of the rest. When you really forgive, sometimes, He makes you forget. But sometimes, you still remember the incident because it was a major thing in your life. Yet, when you look back at it, the pain is no more there. The sting is gone and you are not bitter.

Read the Bible indiscriminately and you’ll get a mixed message. You’ll take on board commandments that were never meant for you and you’ll end up confused and lukewarm. You’ll fall from grace and into works. The way to avoid this is to read the entire Bible through the lens of Jesus and His finished work. When the Galatians fell into error Paul reminded them that “before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified” (Ga 3:1). A clear revelation of the cross is the best protection against falling from grace.

The cross changed everything. Prior to the cross everything pointed forward to Jesus and His redemptive work. Everything after the cross celebrates His finished work and invites you to rest.

Paul’s Letter to the Romans may be the most influential book in the history of Christianity. It was Romans that sparked the Reformation of the 16th century and just about every other significant move since then. Romans is special because in it Paul presents his revelation of the life and work of Jesus Christ. Romans, in other words, is the Bible’s own key for unlocking the gospel of Christ.

Romans is Paul’s masterpiece of grace. And just as you will better appreciate the masterpieces in the National Gallery when you view them with a guide, so too will you get more out of Romans if you are accompanied by a gifted teacher. Someone like Andrew Wommack for instance.

In his book, Grace – the Power of the Gospel, Wommack gives a verse by verse exposition of Romans or at least the first half of Romans. Reading this book is like are exploring a mine full of treasures. Here’s what Wommack has to say about the law:

“The law was given to bring us out of our deception that we could ever save ourselves. God revealed what real holiness is for those who think, I’m close. I’m a pretty good person. He gave a standard of holiness that was so detailed – step one through ten thousand – that it was impossible for anyone to ever keep it… The law wasn’t given so we could keep it. It was given to show us that we could never keep it.” (p.31)

Here’s what he has to say about Paul’s famous wretched-man passage:

“Romans 7 shows the impossibility of living for God. Most people don’t understand this. They think that when you’re born again God forgives you and then picks you up, winds you up, points you in the right direction, and says, ‘Now let’s see if you can do it right this time.’… The Christian life isn’t just hard to live – it’s impossible! It’s humanly impossible to love your neighbor as you love yourself… It’s humanly impossible to turn the other cheek.” (pp.123-4)

Many believers have a yo-yo relationship with the Lord. This is because they relate to God on the basis of their performance rather than trusting in His grace. They look at Paul’s words in Romans 7 and think he is describing their experience: up one day, down the next. But that’s not what Paul was talking about at all:

“Paul wasn’t crying, ‘I’m schizophrenic! Sometimes I do good, sometimes I do bad. I just can’t help myself.’ He was simply describing the inability of any of us on our own to live for God… Paul was describing the futility of trying to serve God in the flesh. The flesh part of us (body and soul) will always fall short. ‘Imperfection can’t be perfect…’” (pp.154-5)

The solution to this performance-based bondage is to stop trying to be Jesus and let Jesus be Jesus through you. Stop trying to succeed on the basis of will-power, which is a flesh trip, and start living by the Spirit. As many others have said, the Christian life isn’t a changed life, but an exchanged life. It’s about denying your self – that Martha-part of you that wants to get busy impressing Jesus with your works – and resting in Him and His finished work.

Performance-oriented believers tend to be sin-conscious. For them, Christianity is all about doing good while avoiding sin. Indeed, Romans does talk a lot about sin, but probably not in the way that you think. The word “sin” and its derivatives appears 49 times in Romans. On 47 of these occasions Paul refers to sin as a noun (e.g., sin nature, old self). Only twice does Paul talk about sin as a verb. In other words, Paul is far more interested in nature than behavior. It’s not so much about what you do but who you are. Those who are in Christ will walk according to the Spirit not because they have to, but because it is in their (new) nature to do so. The tree is good, so the fruit will be good too.

What’s the main takeaway from this book? You need to renew your mind:

“The key to the Christian life is the renewing of the mind. When you were born again, your spirit changed – but your natural mind didn’t. It remained unrenewed. You don’t need more of God in your heart. You already have all of God there. Everything you need is already in your born-again spirit – the life of God, the faith of God, the joy of God, the peace of God, the anointing of God, and everything else that’s of God – but it’s only going to manifest itself in your life to the degree you renew your mind.” (p.91)

Grace – The Power of the Gospel will change the way you think. It will liberate you from the curse of dead works and the performance mentality that still binds many in the church. Read this book and you will come away praising God for His goodness and Jesus for His perfect sacrifice. You will also come away with a greater appreciation for the gospel of grace.

The cross is placed on the ground and the exhausted man is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square wrought-iron nail through the wrist deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and movement. The cross is then lifted into place. The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees flexed. The victim is now crucified.

As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain — the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of his feet.

As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through his muscles, knotting them deep relentless, and throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath.

Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subsided. Spasmodically, he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen.

Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-renting cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against rough timber. Then another agony begins: a deep, crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level. The compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues. The tortured lungs are making frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. He can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues.

Finally, he allows his body to die.

All this the Bible records with the simple words, “and they crucified Him” — Mark 15:24

This is the true ministry of any new covenant Bible teacher or preacher – he seeks to unveil Jesus to you and qualify you by the blood of Jesus. He does not come to unveil your faults or bring your sins to remembrance to disqualify you from entering God’s presence and enjoying His blessings. That is what an old covenant preacher does.